WI: Dunn County Transit sees major growth with community transportation in 2025

Dunn County Transit saw a major increase with community ridership in 2025 from prior years, as work to bring back ridership since COVID has taken effect over the past five years.

Ridership on their main Community Route hit 20,660 total passengers in 2025, increasing from 2024’s total of 16,012. Dunn County Transit noted this is their highest number on record, sitting roughly 73% above their 10-year average of 11,906.

Dunn County Facilities, Parks and Transit Director Austin Witt said 2025 was a big year for them, but looking back on the past five years highlights some of the changes made to get to that point. Following the 2020 pandemic, ridership in 2021 hit an all time low of 3,747 total rides.

“Things were better, but most of those community rider numbers during the school year were Stout overflow,” Witt said. “The true numbers really showcased in the summer months how low the ridership actually was with community members riding that bus and that route. So we went to the drawing board to see how we could be more efficient with it and cut off a few stops that weren’t getting utilized at all.”

Dunn County Transit’s Community Route operates as a fixed-route bus service in Menomonie, operating on an hourly loop connecting residents to key destinations within the city.

Originally the service would alternate their route to serve different parts of Menomonie throughout the day. Strategic improvements starting with a major route redesign began on June 1, 2021, with the intent to make the Community Route easier and more efficient for riders. Bus fares were also temporarily eliminated until fall 2023 to help rebuild ridership.

Witt recalled driving some of those routes when he began working for the county in 2020, where some days no one took the public transport.

“We want to keep that ridership up versus five years ago, when we were having zero to three riders on some summer days of the week. Now we’re getting 50 to 100 per day, so it really makes a big difference.

“The biggest thing is taking the time to let this route blossom and show that it is an efficient system.

“In the beginning, we made it more efficient, and through the years now we can focus on keeping it efficient and maintaining the reliability of our buses.”

In addition to an increase of usage on their Community Route, Dunn County Transit’s Stout Route also saw ridership increases from the prior year despite decreased university enrollment. A total of 98,747 passengers rode the bus in 2025, an increase of roughly 5.7% from 93,390 in 2024.

Doorstop/Red Cedar Ridership also increased, from 5,801 passengers in 2024 to 6,271 in 2025.

In total, Dunn County Transit measured 95,660.95 total miles of transportation services in 2025. Witt said their department has 10 buses covering that ground, with four on route during maximum service hours. Dunn County Transit anticipates two electric buses to also potentially arrive sometime in summer 2026, as services are expected to continue growing into the current year.

“Most towns and cities this size with 16,000 people don’t have a transit system,” Witt said, “So we’re fortunate to have it and have the university here to be able to help service.

“Changes take time, and when implementing changes, thinking about sustainability of those changes has really come into effect. With the transit system, many factors to implement this change need to be accounted for. It takes a team to do it, and we’ve got a great team. I’m very impressed with how this has gone.”

More information on bus routes within Dunn County, visit dunncountywi.gov/busroutes.

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